tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21251358369461488702024-02-07T17:44:46.071-06:00thursdaysan ibyang intercontinental poem-a-week projectchristy namee eriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060061824713745679noreply@blogger.comBlogger200125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-19011639444140720752014-07-27T14:39:00.002-05:002014-07-27T14:39:59.464-05:00<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">She says that these skeletons, were reanimated corpses, wrapped together in bloody bandages, that these were living, breathing, bloodthirsty, sharp clawed big teeth, make you want to run for your life, monsters</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">With a whisper she claimed that I was the only one that didn't scare her</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We walked across the bridge, looking down at the highway, pointed out to where the sun hugs the earth and promised that with nothing more then the clothes on our backs, the change in our pockets, our hands locked together, and a full tank of gas, we'd write our own book</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I still sit on that same lawn, where we use to grab ice cream, she always got strawberry, because it always reminded her of how my cheeks would light up when she was close to me</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I open and close my closet door while I'm inside hoping that I'll somehow open up to be in her room</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I don't look at the highway anymore, these concrete veins of mine can no longer be filled with this pink berry bloodstream</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Our love was a nightmare, but it was the only thing I thought about while dreaming</span>Savemyseoulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18310259297835798559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-76982107432982926842014-07-27T14:34:00.002-05:002014-07-27T14:34:56.785-05:00<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">M.P</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We hold hands and I can’t help but to say</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">“Is it weird that this feels normal?”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Through summers</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">we laugh and smile, between my broken R’s and her refurbished metallic shining grin we thought we were invincible</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Her locket she called her heart was almost as tight as our fingers were</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">entwined with each others as if we were making a beautiful concerto with sign language</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">our rhythm were our hearts beating faster than the sun when I looked at her slightly slanted sweetened eyes</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> the notes were the syllables we tapped out of our fingers whenever we gave little kid back rubs to each other,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">you were the conductor and I was your score and together we made everyone smile in awe at how cute of a couple we could be at such a young age, thinking we knew what these butterflies in our stomachs were</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Sunny days were replaced with cold nights</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">we grew</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I didn’t want to but I knew I had to</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">You came back one day with amazing news</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I just wish I was a part of it</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It was going to be difficult, scary even, and we both knew it</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I just never confronted it</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I blinked and life changed instantly</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">One call gave so much meaning, but this was like fingers snapping</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Locks rusting</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">music burning</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">teeth breaking</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">a genocide of monarchs</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I sit in a pew</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">there's no casket, just an empty space of room</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I wish you were here</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">our hands hugging</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">thinking</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">“This isn't weird.”</span>Savemyseoulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18310259297835798559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-48514232322554503922014-07-12T08:49:00.001-05:002014-07-15T15:57:32.583-05:00Here are two poems about a relationship falling apart<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As a pair, I call them "Shut Up, Idiot; No One Cares About Your Shitty Break-up Poems." </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. (Embrace)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">She likes it best when he </span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">holds her tight, sleeping, </span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">holds her to him like</span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">she’s a handle in a storm, a</span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">tree rooted in soil and history. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">She likes it best when he </span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">breathes her in, inhales</span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">her scent and murmurs</span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">prayers spoken in tongues of slumber,</span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">holds her close again. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Rain plays rhythmic on the window pane only sometimes,</span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">she wonders what he dreams about. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">He hides it best when he</span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">sleeps, mind at rest, words </span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">form and he smiles, thinking: </span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">“I’ll squeeze the life from you.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">I’ll squeeze the life from you and eat it.” </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. (Embraced)</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">She likes to kiss him right away,</span></span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">
</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">right when he picks her up</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">as an I love you greeting</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">but also, moreso, when he picks her up he’s sure to be sober.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Ever since that scare two summers ago,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">he’s sure to be sober when he picks her up</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">and she misses, now, the taste of him</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">not tainted by liquor. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Holds him close, tries to squeeze what she fell in love with to the surface,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">cling to whatever is left,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">she kisses him again</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">“remember this feeling now. you have to.” </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">He kisses back this time</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">out of boredom or manners. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Silence plays third wheel at dinner now,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">but knows to leave when the party really gets started, </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">when empty words begin to flow and every statement is a toast</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">to youthful idealism deferred but not deflated yet</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">to the circular “remember whens” that relate back to relate back to</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">this same thing here, tonight,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">to the places they thought they would be tonight but aren’t</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">to how, deep down, no one is really happy</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">to let’s trade one more night together for fleeting moments of we almost could</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">to staving off silence for a few more hours until morning.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">They don’t hold each other close anymore, in sleep.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">She likes to think this is a sign of contentment.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 12px/normal Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
</span><br /></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-64064999273687555252014-06-26T12:32:00.002-05:002014-06-26T12:32:30.291-05:00Travel Journal (draft)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I don’t like traveling. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Foreign domestic eyes twitch
when it occurs</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">again that I’m always going to
look like a tourist,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">that maybe I should just
embrace it and wear a fanny-pack</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">everywhere, pause to photograph
the </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">odd numbering on busses I ride
every day.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At my destination,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">realize I’ve brought along more
than I meant to pack, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">things I didn’t even know I
owned. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Beneath a pair of shower shoes
is a pervasive sense of longing, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">my plastic vitamin bottle holds
staccato bursts of birthing pains,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">folded into my sweater is a
tongue that will not fold</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">to pronounce the name no longer
on my luggage tag,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and by my toothbrush is a
growing sense of doubt that that was even my name to begin with.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-19438286789491727562014-06-19T10:00:00.003-05:002014-06-19T10:00:46.975-05:00Too many locks for one doorThey said my hands were fire and I didn’t know what they meant, that is until I made your heart my home and you got burned. Now you have a constant numb washing over you and a house of ashes for rent. They said my eyes were torture because they screamed for help and drew in lost souls, and kept prisoners shivering and shaking and trembling in fear, and because they didn’t know my chest had become desolate with no heart to hold. She said my lips burned kisses into welts meant to be left on the necks of women, but her hands were always wrapped around the necks of wine and whiskey bottles and even a few men, so I payed her no attention. He, her brother, said my lips were nothing more than tools to seduce women into lovers, claiming I never loved her, but he knew not me nor her so how could he claim to really love her? At her funeral I sang a song and they said my voice burned like her whiskey down the backs of their throats, and they couldn’t hold back the tears after hearing bittersweet notes sang about a woman who fell victim to a man who created fires starting with his pen hitting his paper as he wrote. I won’t hold it against them though, they didn’t know. I put on my necklace and my shades, and I almost never smile anymore because at least now I know.Savemyseoulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18310259297835798559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-56132412959947348192014-06-19T09:37:00.003-05:002014-06-19T09:38:54.316-05:00$3,780 Is Priceless<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>"But that is exactly why the Chin case continues to haunt Asian Americans. It is archetypal. I am less anxious about the threat from the Ku Klux Klan and skinheads than I am the possibility that an ordinary guy across the bar, with economic unease and too much booze, turn outs to be savage enough for violence."</em> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-h-wu/the-case-against-vincent_b_5237359.html">"The Case Against Vincent Chin,"</a> Frank H. Wu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Dear Vince,</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I whisper, “rest in peace” to you every year but I know you’re
not;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I know you’re here, with me—a whisper’s length away;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I can feel you in my bones, resonating, tarnishing golden
skin,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">we both decay: you decompose while I fall apart every time I
hear your story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Manhood defined only my slaughter, bought off on bad credit—</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Ron Ebens says he lives paycheck to paycheck now, off of
social security I pay into from fitting in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Begs the question why I pay for his life, why you paid with
yours, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">why we all pay for the murderer who thought you were the
Japanese threat to livelihood,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">thought you were looking at him funny, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">thought you were returning his abuse just a little too much,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">thought you didn’t bleed red or fear God like he did, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">thought you were anything but</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">just Vince. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I bought a baseball bat today</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">to keep in my car so the next time I get called “chink” in
traffic, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">blamed for Pearl Harbor by some ironic hipster, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">or just side-eyed from different eyes that “think I am,”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">we can bypass the teaching moment;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">sputter hurt against hurt</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">against out of work auto workers shape-shifted to </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">thick framed glasses with bachelor’s degrees and too much
time,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">shape-shifted to color blindness negating history</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">shape-shifted to badge excuses and stolen ground stood</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">shape-shifted to maybe just this once, I can hit back for us
and win,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">maybe just this once, I’m not all of us</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">maybe just this once, we’ll sleep tonight. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">They’ll hose my guts out of the gutter, call it “manslaughter,”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">we’ll call it a lullaby, Vince, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">you and me, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">we’ll call it a lullaby.</span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-49226513319178009032014-05-01T21:02:00.000-05:002014-05-01T21:02:59.896-05:00[title redacted]<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Once a year, No Last Name Given thinks about setting an extra place at her small table;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">even in the echoing closeness of her studio off Park, the extra place setting she never follows through on,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">never followed through on, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">rings alternate histories and any future away from that studio off Park. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sirens in the night don’t wake her anymore like memories of two cries wake her,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">hands shaking from poor decisions from circumstance and not enough heat this winter aren’t what keeps her from writing him a letter.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A tasteless microwave meal, eaten alone to the hum of pipes and muffled conversation;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">really this day is no different than yesterday. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-62602814056411575452014-04-24T19:42:00.001-05:002014-04-24T19:42:40.680-05:00Really Rough Draft #573<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Poem for M. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And it’s not like we ever met, even in passing,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">maybe you’d have annoyed the shit out of me</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">maybe you were rude to servers,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">maybe you only saw the world revolving only around you,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">didn’t even view yourself as Asian, really,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">but, you, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">you were my sister, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">with stories intertwined that spoke to one another, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">begun with goodbyes, ended alone</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">(at least for you), alone and searching. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Laying there, bleeding, I hope you felt no regret, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">felt any peace in passing;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">that we were all sent here for something better and got it--</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">not bleeding out, alone, in a car.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">No, we were sent here to--</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">it’s not like we ever met but</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">just in passing, I’d have stopped to listen to your last words,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">made up a prayer or a song</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">kept tempo by your heartbeat but this one wouldn’t end. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-68774871366303197592014-04-10T13:31:00.003-05:002014-04-10T13:32:36.902-05:00Puppy Love<br />
NaPoWriMo Draft, Lightly Revised: <br />
"Puppy Love"<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">It’s in the news again, always a few articles down,</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">Another kid, another adopted kid neglected to death—</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">This time, chained like a dog, starved for months.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">If this kid had been bullied by other kids, chosen to take his
own life,</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">mouths would foam for quantifiable laws to protect the innocent</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">and if this kid had gotten shot at school, there would be uproar
over gun control,</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">more frenzied coverage of our collective failings weighed
against collective blame</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">but this kid’s bullies were his protectors and</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">the only arms dealer today is the one that dealt me, dealt my
brother:</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">divergent testaments to how good things can be, sometimes.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">Across an ocean, someone feels a familiar sense of loss but
can’t say why.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">A small golden hand is just visible in the half-zipped black
bag.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-10421217122796368432013-09-09T18:06:00.000-05:002013-09-10T19:32:25.980-05:00A Town Called Whisper / Poem for T. <br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There’s a town called Whisper,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">always a whisper’s length away;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">exists in that warm energy, those fleeting breaths</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">before our world gushes back,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">always leaves you in wisps, purged and dark. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Still, alone now, Whisper calls:</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There’s room for you just down, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">just down the river some. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">[redacted], please don’t go. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-23939972737701619102013-07-18T23:10:00.000-05:002013-07-19T10:17:25.958-05:00The Verdict<br />
<div style="font: 12px Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Finally accept your life is worth not quite nothing but markedly less.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The soul as a transcendent entity helps you sleep again. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But you are someone’s child;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">your child’s life is worth markedly less and</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Sleep is the least of your worries. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times New Roman; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-55772851246828574912013-05-29T22:25:00.001-05:002013-05-29T22:25:42.362-05:00A<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Abject Authentic Atheist</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Assimilated Adapted</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Adopted </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Anulled Abscene</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Abnormal Antithesis</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Antitheist</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Abandoned Alone</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Amazing Artist</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Awsome</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Autistic Abrasive Arrogant</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Abominable Adhesive</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Asshole</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Asskisser Addicted</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Abusive Adult</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Anus</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Abitch Abastard Abductee</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Always Appropriately Angry </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span><br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-37030267138361871172013-04-25T23:18:00.002-05:002013-04-25T23:18:36.227-05:00I Am a Rented Room<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
NaPoWriMo 25/30: "I Am a Rented Room" (second draft/near immediate revision)</div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Carefully cleaned, walls painted over</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">between residents.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Every forlorn look covered in fresh, white paint, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">every exclamation aired out through opened windows.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The steadfast dresser remains</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">but its drawers are lined with new paper;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don’t live here anymore. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-29475496202920865862013-04-18T09:26:00.002-05:002013-04-18T09:26:40.817-05:00Warriors Part 1<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">NaPoWriMo 4/17 "Warriors Part 1"</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We believed we were warriors</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">until the day we fought the Ocean.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At first, we thought we beat it but </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">brief retreat is only its nature;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It surged back, nearly drowned us.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Soggy, exhausted,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">salt stinging our eyes, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">we wept salt water</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">into salt water</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">amid ruined battlements made of sand.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-51098940716990792902013-04-12T01:23:00.001-05:002013-04-12T01:23:28.467-05:00THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN THE WORLD<br />
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px 20px 0px 15px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}" style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.38;"><br />My legs and their legs were<br />mazes to a hard bass<br />on the dance floor.<br /><br />Chris dared three of us to kiss him at once<br />and our tongues<br />were so empty<br />they learned anyone’s language.<br /><br />I watched John eat a hot dog<br />and it was disgusting.<br />Mustard on his chin.<br />Words and relish falling out of his mouth.<br />Later he took my shirt off<br />so hungry<br />and I stood there like I had things<br />to offer.<br /><br />Ryan told me he didn’t like me<br />but would sleep with me<br />and I did that for years.<br /><br />Some nights I held him.<br /><br />They are whistling,<br />they are talking about us,<br />the most beautiful women in the world.<br /><br />I have never been ashamed to be Asian<br />except for every time<br />I wore my skin<br />like a drink<br /><br />every time I<br />let them throw me back<br />and call me smooth,<br /><br />I could have been anyone’s granddaughter<br />I could swing on a bell on a mountain of prayers<br />I could shave my head and sprinkle pieces of my midnight<br />all over Korea like a trail, like a bad joke<br />I could bear the name of a prescription drug<br />and my ancestors would never feel the pain<br />I could swallow the pacific<br />mile by raging mile<br />and spit<br />in my mother’s kimchi because<br /><br />that’s what happens<br />to your insides<br /><br />when you see<br />what they see<br /><br />when they look at you.</span></h5>
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christy namee eriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060061824713745679noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-55421173265529357582013-04-11T22:03:00.000-05:002013-04-11T22:03:06.402-05:00The Adoptee Statistic<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Context: the suicide rate among Korean Adoptees is something staggering like 5 times above average. Here is one guess why:</i></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Adoptee Statistic (4/5/13, edited 4/11/13)</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
</div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At night, when the stars come out, I like to pretend each one is an ancestor.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don’t know if that has any relevance in my History, my heritage;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">it has lots of significance in My history. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">They look down at me, speak in a language I can’t understand,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">that I’m too lazy to understand;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">below the stars already, I sink deeper.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I call my mom--as a troubled child always should</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and complain about my job because I lack the vocabulary to say what really bothers me.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My real sadness doesn’t translate,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">but manifests as anger, as hate</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and she tells me to stop bitching. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And she’s right</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">but our blood doesn’t speak the same language</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and we’re talking in codes that can’t be broken</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">so I hang up,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">wish I had a mother who needed no translation,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">yearn for darkness to reveal more ancestors in the sky</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">so I can learn by immersion. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-19768175550381043042013-04-05T16:08:00.001-05:002013-04-05T16:08:10.274-05:00Song<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">My mother was a song</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">in an empty hall.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">When I met her</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">she ended twenty one years of silence</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">and filled me with her notes</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Even with open ears</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">I barely heard</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">every e-flat apology</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">every d-scale dream</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">every Korean crescendo </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">about our lifetime </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">of broken chorus</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">and now I’m haunted</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">by the screech of strings</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">that no one listens to.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Some days</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">I still see her face</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">in instruments</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">that no one plays</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">and I recognize the look </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">on a piano </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">when someone </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">bumps the keys</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">and all the sounds </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">reach out at once</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">like the music is </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">trapped inside it.</span>christy namee eriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060061824713745679noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-20067545596740027222013-03-29T19:29:00.000-05:002013-03-29T19:30:42.013-05:00Dear Oma (Attempt #3)<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I finished <i>I Wish For You A Beautiful Life</i> this week, coinciding with a goal to compile a chapbook of adoption-themed poems and find my mother in the next year or two. After I return to the homeland, there will likely be a follow up to this that has a radically different tone. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Dear Oma (Attempt #3)</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Dear Oma, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">my Oma,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I read your letter--or what I think, hope was your letter. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I forgive you.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Please forgive me. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our nine months together impacted, scarred us</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">physically and in ways we’re still learning. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Oma, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Forgive me that I only know you as Oma.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Some day, without translation, I’ll tell you</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">you didn’t need to worry; I turned out okay,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">it all worked out okay, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I think of you a lot and am</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">grateful. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Oma, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I haven’t wanted for mothers, for love.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Lately, I haven’t wanted for God--but that’s another story. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Oma, forgive me;</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Like a ship into the ocean, you wished safe passage and Faith for me,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I only delivered one of these. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But maybe we can call it even. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Maybe we can accept fault in what we build up most,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">bring the unattainable that much closer.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Language will matter less, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">culture will matter less, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">you and I will matter less, Oma. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With love, always, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Your Son. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-31634770832767811932013-01-09T03:25:00.001-06:002013-01-09T03:26:06.881-06:00open letter (or something) to korea...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHAR9Y3zLBnVUoB5Mn5GuA73wKcOwCVGQjeUmg0xtNt5_gr5jpMvk7hacvk_7VE-rfhnvUagvwgBoKeWd5-GHdaPUGaPc3i0ukvIrmW4IFBoQVIRo5S0UKd9yVgyNGTNjsOTkuICk_SI/s1600/photo+copy.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHAR9Y3zLBnVUoB5Mn5GuA73wKcOwCVGQjeUmg0xtNt5_gr5jpMvk7hacvk_7VE-rfhnvUagvwgBoKeWd5-GHdaPUGaPc3i0ukvIrmW4IFBoQVIRo5S0UKd9yVgyNGTNjsOTkuICk_SI/s400/photo+copy.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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dear korea, (or ... anyone else who may or may not be listening/reading... lurking)<br />
<br />
as
you may or may not be aware... (most likely you are if youve ever paid
attention/been able to decipher me at 4am on some random night where ive
had too much soju and am stumbling about your streets mumbling things
against you that begin with the oh so poetic phrase of
"fuckin-fuckyoufuckinkorea-andyourfuckin...") i have very complex...
unresolved feeling about and towards you.<br />
<br />
seeing as i
have now been living here more than 3 point 5 years (consecutively) and
have spent about... 4 plus years (here) what with that grant and all...
the one thing i have been able to "ascertain" thus far is that... i
evidently had a lot more expectations about and for you than i first
realized "once upon a time ago" back when i first "reunited" with you in
2007... back then i recall only wondering if i was going to have some
kind of "amy tan/<i>joy luck club</i> - 'As soon as my feet touched China*, I
became Chinese*.'" experience. (* insert korea and korean for china and chinese)<br />
<br />
the
reality (for me) is that the moment my feet touched the pavement
outside of incheon airport on the night of december 15th of 2007 - not
only did i not find myself "turning korean"... it hit me... as my friend
and i stood by a rubbish bin to smoke... that... the truth was... i had
(been) "turned" "western" so long ago that like a westerner i really
didn't give a fuck that korean ahjushis were staring at us as we smoked
... and yet... something else hit me...<br />
<br />
that i ... didn't need to "turn korean" because...<br />
<br />
fuck.<br />
<br />
fuckyoukorea.<br />
<br />
<i>you never really left my blood now did you?</i><br />
<br />
<i>... </i>so<br />
<br />
here we are ... 6 ... SIX years later.<br />
<br />
my
ability to communicate with you only exists if we are discussing types
of meat or seafood or booze... along with a few other random things that
probably aren't too useful (though rather impressive party trick
phrases when wanting to amuse korean-korean friends) <br />
<br />
my
ability to communicate with her as in HER... well... we all have
different views/opinions on how public we want to be about HER... and
for now... all i really want to say in this form of an open letter is
that... thanks to you... thanks to a lot of other things... HER and i...
really dont speak much anymore... <i>(how many times can you repeat the same conversation over the course of almost 4 years?)</i><br />
<br />
anyhow... back to YOU - korea.<br />
<i> </i><br />
i have such complex unresolved feelings about you.<br />
<br />
one of these days... i will have to leave you.<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
... i have... <b>a lot</b> of feelings about that.<br />
<br />
(feelings that i am not yet ready to fully express... give me a few more hours... days... weeks... months... years... lifetimes)<br />
<br />
... but here... here is the thing i DO want to say to you in this open letter:<br />
<br />
you cost me... us? A LOT.<br />
<br />
not just HERE. not just LANGUAGE. not just IDENTITY. not just CULTURE. not just BLOODLINES.<br />
<br />
you cost me... over there as well.<br />
<br />
to the point that i am numb.<br />
<br />
to
the point that i am pretty certain that i am "supposed" to feel quite
strongly about how things are (are not) with (that majority but not all
of) my... "adoptive family" but... no longer do... and have not for
quite a long time.<br />
<br />
and the only real sadness i feel about that...<br />
<br />
is that<br />
<br />
i dont<br />
feel<br />
any<br />
sadness<br />
for that<br />
loss (of connection).<br />
<br />
and that started long before reuniting with you...<br />
<br />
but i know... that reuniting with you...<br />
<br />
has made the one day possibility of "repairing that bridge"...<br />
<br />
well...<br />
<br />
as
the white people (who say this type of thing and who truly ALL HAVE) a
fetish for asian things (people)... like to say "i feel quite zen about
it all" (*imsosickof the idea/phrase "exceptional white person") *note:
though i dont really need to say it... i will: i do not speak for others
i only speak for me.<br />
<br />
but the truth is...<br />
<br />
ive got this sneaking suspicion that im not actually meant to "feel zen" about "it all..."<br />
<br />
and korea,<br />
<br />
you
see i have this sneaking suspicion that ... when it comes to
adoptees... or ... at least "to me, as an adoptee" that you really like
to play the subversive game of "home wrecker"...<br />
<br />
like there's this unspoken price that in the "quest" to find (my) identity the price is "all."<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
and for that... amongst so many other reasons that my brain and heart are just too tired to get into right now...<br />
<br />
i have such complex and unresolved feelings about you.<br />
<br />
yes,<br />
<br />
i
DO love you for so many reasons -- if you don't believe me ive got
hundreds of pages of poems that i can send you to prove this...<br />
<br />
but...<br />
<br />
there is nothing about you that has proven to be... clean or tidy or... possible of resolving.<br />
<br />
here is the only reality that i seem to understand these days (years):<br />
<br />
one day, i will need to leave you... for my own sanity and future.<br />
<br />
but
leaving you... it will not be "easy"... nor will i be leaving you with a
(white) english teacher's fat pension check or able to exclaim via
facebook "YES! paid off another loan today!"<br />
<br />
... (not
that i ever came to you for financial remuneration) ... (but yes i did
come to you hoping for another kind of remuneration... that ... it seems
i shall not be leaving here with either)<br />
<br />
... leaving
you (when that day comes)... will not be clean... and i know i shall not
go to wherever it is next feeling like "well, glad to have tidied up
that mess in my life."<br />
<br />
... here is what i suspect... here is why i feel so complex about you...<br />
<br />
when i leave... and even before leaving you...<br />
<br />
the realization... the reality...<br />
<br />
is that...<br />
<br />
i
will never resolve anything about you... i will never find that point
of perfect grace or peace in terms of having found my resolution with
you...<br />
<br />
i will never feel like "i got everything i hoped for" (in spite of what it may seem like "i got")<br />
<br />
because the price of you... has been and is... too high... and leaving you... that price is and will be too high... <br />
<br />
but... i will and have been paying it... and i always will...<br />
<br />
because somewhere... in the midst of realizing how i will NEVER feel resolved about you...<br />
<br />
that therein is where i find my own form of...<br />
<br />
peace.<br />
<br />
with oh so complex feelings that i know shall never be resolved,<br />
<br />
kim thompson<br />
seoul, s. korea<br />
8 jan 2013<br />
17:54<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />kIMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737009172716868615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-23331413682431328792012-12-05T20:14:00.001-06:002012-12-05T20:15:43.775-06:00something<span></span><br />
(i) am nestled in something<br />
i know not what<br />
(i) am seething in something<br />
i know not what<br />
(i) am brewing in something<br />
i know not what<br />
<br />
only that it is<br />
something.<br />
<br />
something<br />
that one day<br />
- but not today<br />
- and probably not tomorrow<br />
- and probably not the day after<br />
that i will<br />
be able<br />
to name/define/express<br />
<br />
love does not make me<br />
silent<br />
love makes me<br />
voluminous<br />
<br />
- but even love -<br />
cannot name this<br />
"something" for me.<br />
<br />
only time.<br />
only time.<br />
only<br />
the<br />
right<br />
time.<br />
<br />
and as snow falls for the 6th december here<br />
i only know<br />
that this<br />
something<br />
<br />
it is<br />
very<br />
<br />
much<br />
<br />
a lot.<br />
<br />
kim thompson. seoul, s. korea. written on a wed. posted on a thursday 6 dec. 2012kIMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737009172716868615noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-79042415152821276362012-11-27T22:01:00.001-06:002012-11-29T21:07:02.365-06:00I Believe In Harry Holt Too (Two)<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>The <a href="http://www.thursdaypoems.blogspot.com/2011/04/napowrimo-poem-i-believe-in-harry-holt.html">revised version</a> is actually hanging out in 2011. Below is the original draft. </i></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Somewhere across the ocean, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a woman with my eyes looks at her ruined body every morning</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and remembers me,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">wonders what might have been</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">now that it is 2011 and the world is a different place than 1986. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Maybe her heart rips in half again</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">as she goes to work in a factory somewhere.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Somewhere across the ocean, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a man with my jawline frowns at his monthly wage </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">(less than I make in a week)</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and remembers me, </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">wonders if I have his jawline</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">or what the woman with my eyes is doing now</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">before swallowing his failure like drunken sick</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and clocking into a factory somewhere. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yesterday, I bought a teddy bear for my friend’s kid</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">because the tag said “made in Korea”</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and somehow, that made me feel like it could be less store-bought--</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">some connection to whoever was sewing it together</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
in a factory across the ocean.</div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I doubt he’ll remember who gave it to him. </span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-51029762606710275022012-11-08T00:36:00.001-06:002012-11-08T13:12:13.970-06:00On Not Writing Enough Lately<br />
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">On Not Writing Enough Lately</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I drink too much. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I’m losing weight, I don’t look well. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A fleeting quip about going from jaundiced to Jon dust makes me </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">smile in the mirror and</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I am alone with my recycling--with the bottles that stack up on shelves like books</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Each with 750-1000ml of whispered prayers, swallowed regret, </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">every murmur in between</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I hope will reach across an ocean, translate into a language I don’t speak.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">There’s no wind today. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">If I exhale hard enough, I can send these gallons of messages across the waves</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">to a familiar foreign shore where the ghost of a childless woman wanders, waiting.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">If I drink enough,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">waste away enough,</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I can fold her shadow into mine and</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">tell her I'm sorry for not writing sooner.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12px Times; margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Cold Shoulderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12033596738221600483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-81406454114782032372012-08-23T00:19:00.002-05:002012-12-05T20:17:05.716-06:00certain things* soundtrack for reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4K2VTLZ7qc&feature=relmfu<br />
<br />
certain things delight...<br />
like<br />
the moon<br />
in the middle of the day<br />
and<br />
flowers growing<br />
in the shade.<br />
like<br />
green growing from within<br />
desolate-seeming<br />
narrow<br />
alleyways<br />
and then there is<br />
the smell of books<br />
years forgotten<br />
stacked to the first floor<br />
from underneath the<br />
earth.<br />
<br />
in a place like this<br />
the stars at night are few<br />
thanks to modern urbanity<br />
and humanity's fear of the dark<br />
but still<br />
if you look up<br />
you can hear them<br />
glistening<br />
out beyond<br />
the sound of green, orange, blue<br />
buses.<br />
<br />
in a place like this<br />
where ahjushis spit<br />
and ahjumas shove<br />
silence can seem so impossible<br />
but there is always space<br />
to sit<br />
and listen only<br />
to the hum<br />
of an aircon motor<br />
and the sounds of<br />
tires brushing against<br />
black pot-holed streets.<br />
<br />
in a place like this<br />
where some days the smell of sewers hits<br />
you can begin to believe there is nothing left<br />
to take in<br />
until<br />
you smell the bread<br />
baking just around the corner<br />
that all the wafting of fermented cabbage in the world<br />
cannot conquer.<br />
<br />
in a place like this<br />
where white pursues yellow<br />
and yellow does everything to<br />
make its skin look more white<br />
than even they<br />
you can forget<br />
that there is something left to<br />
pursue<br />
and<br />
when your phone rings<br />
and you just<br />
you just cant have the same conversation youve been having<br />
for more than 3 years<br />
a conversation you once said youd give your entire life up for<br />
just to have one time<br />
and now you have<br />
given it all up<br />
and cant have that conversation anymore...<br />
you can forget<br />
why it is you ever chose to return<br />
...<br />
until you walk outside one night<br />
or day<br />
and see small patches of green still growing<br />
a garden of 호박 growing from a 무당 집<br />
and you remember<br />
that no<br />
good thing<br />
ever<br />
truly<br />
dies<br />
only<br />
re-plants itself<br />
and<br />
when your phone is finally silent<br />
and you dont have to watch white<br />
pursue yellow<br />
and you just let the smell of<br />
bread<br />
and<br />
cabbage<br />
and<br />
sewers<br />
be<br />
...<br />
and watch the harmony<br />
of moon in the day<br />
and flowers in the shade<br />
<br />
you remember<br />
all these certain things<br />
for<br />
why it is<br />
you stayed.<br />
<br />
- kim thompson. seoul. s. korea. some weeks ago in early august 2012kIMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737009172716868615noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-8338194335932274882012-05-25T17:40:00.001-05:002012-05-25T17:40:12.252-05:00STARE AT THE SUNWhat happens<br />
when you stare<br />
at the sun,<br />
<br />
when your<br />
arrogant heart<br />
points too high<br />
and the burn<br />
is not enough<br />
to deter you?<br />
<br />
Well I like it hot,<br />
here with my eyeballs<br />
on my sleeve<br />
and a darkness<br />
I mistake<br />
for light.<br />
<br />
You with<br />
your song-<br />
filled skin<br />
and my<br />
bed an<br />
empty<br />
measure, I<br />
reach for<br />
you with<br />
quarter note<br />
hands<br />
and singed<br />
eyebrows.<br />
<br />
Tell me a story,<br />
let it be about<br />
<br />
your shoulders<br />
warm between<br />
my teeth,<br />
let it be about<br />
<br />
your matchstick<br />
chin against my<br />
kindled rib cage,<br />
let it build<br />
<br />
around a zipper<br />
and let me take<br />
it down, notch<br />
by silver notch.<br />
<br />
What happens<br />
when you stare<br />
at the sun,<br />
when you lie<br />
<br />
in bed with<br />
it under the<br />
suffocating moon,<br />
when you tell<br />
<br />
it secrets,<br />
thrown corner by<br />
corner into<br />
its hungry<br />
mouth?<br />
<br />
Will you burst into solar flames?<br />
<br />
or will you<br />
simply flicker?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />christy namee eriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060061824713745679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125135836946148870.post-6159554924684866872012-05-21T13:18:00.001-05:002012-05-21T13:18:26.621-05:00Liner notes to my life<i>In honour of this seemingly dying blog... and to make up my absence... a thursday poem on monday ^_^</i><br />
<br /><br />
One road met the other, and silently they lie across each other, like two people whose love for each other had soured, refusing to say a word, not even a song...
<br /><br />
At crossroads, what better place to write the liner notes to life?
<br /><br />
If my life was an album, I wonder, which tracks would it have. What people would feature as artists, and would they be friends of mine? or foes... or perhaps a bit of both.
<br /><br />
To run away, and lose the road back; to find a road where none existed before. I find myself in Africa (who the fuck knew), passing everywhere, inbetween, incomplete; yet I am whole within my indecision... A bridge from here to there, from two places somewhere on a map, tattooed on my body.
<br /><br />
I've harboured healthy addictions to cupcakes, to kisses, and to unrequited love. I've found my demons, and comforted them, told them they shouldn't be scared to lose me, as I moved along in life. Turned the pages, and made silly notes in the margins; witty remarks and slug lines to a script that even I could not have dreamt up for myself; confused, the text was wondering and decided to be a drama that lives like comedy (or is it the other way around?).
<br /><br />
There is fear, seductively keeping me inside my comfort zone. Who ever said fear was terrible? it is sweet and delicious, comforting, beyond a mother's touch. It succeeds to cage even my strongest desires, it makes love to my hope and gives birth to fantasies and daydreams... To dream and never reach for it, to never achieve...
<br /><br />
How to pick up the thread of life? when you're not sure what kind of life you've led? How to decide? Where to go, down which road best fortune lies? What to say, when the curtains closed on a kiss and the sound of trumpets? When the script has written soundly "the end"? Where to go, from here?
<br /><br />
I have feelings and emotions... and I know my song is here... How to give in and lose myself again? To lose myself, and live, again
<br /><br />
...
<br /><br />
I want to bring someone breakfast on bed, and feed her sweetness from my lips... I want to have Tracy Chapman on repeat in the kitchen and dance to the sound of her voice, fuck it what people 'd say. I want to have hope, for some distant future. I want to eat the icing of cupcakes, and leave the cakes for someone else. I want to live and love, with a smile that refuses to make way for anything. I want to be who I can be, not minding my words... despite the fact that they are too many, and get me in the sort of trouble that too often sours my heart. I want to touch, and enjoy long kisses for lunch. I want to live, live, live, and understand my purpose in life!<br /><br /><br />HeJinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09980566390376850756noreply@blogger.com1